1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wrestling headgear, and more particularly to an ear protector for a wrestling headgear.
2. Description of the Related Art
Protective headgear for protecting an athlete's head, particularly for use during contact sports, is known. For example, helmets are utilized in football to protect the football player. Additionally, helmets are utilized to protect lacrosse players, hockey players, baseball players, etc. Even athletes that are not engaged in contact sports wear protective headgear, e.g., bicyclists. Because the helmet that is worn by a particular athlete must comfortably and adequately fit the head of the wearer in order to protect the athlete, it is known to provide padding in the helmet. The padding serves to add additional protection for the wearer but can also assist in providing for a comfortable fit for the wearer. As such, the padding engages with a relatively large surface area of the wearer's head. It is desirable for the padding to engage with a large surface area of the wearer's head in order to provide for adequate support and fit of the wearer's head within the helmet.
It is also known to be able to adjust the thickness of the padding within the helmet to provide for a more comfortable fit for a particular wearer. However, again, the padding still engages with a large surface area of the head and is formed and adjusted to provide for protection and fit of the entire head within the helmet. The adjustable padding merely enhances the fit of the wearer's entire head within the helmet.
Wrestling headgear is protective equipment used to cover, shield, and distribute impact forces away from the ears of wrestlers. Not only does the wrestling headgear protect the wrestler's ears from injury by isolating the ears from the impact forces, the headgear can also protect an injured ear of the wrestler from further injury. In order to protect a wrestler's ears from injury and to protect a wrestler's injured ear from further injury, each protective ear piece of the headgear isolates the ear from impact by defining a cavity within which a respective ear of the wrestler is positioned.
It is currently known to define the cavity of the ear piece by utilizing a material, such as foam rubber, in a ring configuration which is positioned on an inner portion of the ear piece and which thus surrounds the ear. However, drawbacks exist with the known apparatus. As mentioned above, a conventional way of protecting the ear in wrestling headgear is to add a layer of foam with the center cut out around the ear. The foam that is used has an adhesive backing so that it can be attached to the headgear ear piece. However, it is not possible to vary the dimensions of the cavity defined by the ear piece, and thus as defined by the foam rubber, without adding additional foam rubber to, or removing foam rubber from, the ear piece. This process can be unwieldy, time-consuming, and may not result in a desirable configuration for the cavity because of the difficulties that can be encountered when working with a material that is not variably configurable.
Other problems exist with conventional wrestling headgear. Conventional wrestling headgear includes two ear protectors with straps connecting the ear protectors. However, conventional wrestling headgear may slide away from the intended area of coverage due to the straps being inadequate for maintaining the positioning of the ear protectors over the ears. The potential for injury to a wrestler's ears due to this slippage is significant and can ultimately lead to permanent tissue damage.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved method and apparatus for protecting an ear of a wrestler within a protective headgear.